Holiday recommendations for young children

[User1903]

I’m looking for some holiday recommendations for children aged 5 and 3. We have 3 children, DS is 12 now and not so keen on holidaying at the minute so mainly looking to accommodate younger DC.

Since having our hands full with the younger DC holidays haven’t quite felt relaxing to say the least. It just feels very stressful so looking for some recommendations of places people have been to before that has had a lot for children and you have enjoyed! 🙂

Martinhal Sagres

Anywhere with a decent kids club, it would help to know your budget and holiday preferences (beach, hiking, outdoors, city, etc).

Perfect time to get your 12 year old interested in travel, why don't you try and get them involved with the planning?

Why are you writing off the 12 year old's wishes? The younger children will be happy with novelty and a new toy/ice cream every day and lots of attention from family members.

Would your 12 year old like a city break better than a beach holiday? We took our kids everywhere at that age. You could do Paris for example - museums and attractions in the morning, with treats to keep little ones going, then out to a park for the afternoon. Riding the escalators to the top of the Centre Pompidou is fun for all the family.

Or go to Köln (cologne) for cathedral, roman mosaics and its excellent zoo?

We did lots of Eurocamp style holidays, great for all ages (large mobile home, not a tent). The sites usually have great pools (some with slides), playgrounds, evening entertainment. At 12, our DCs enjoyed having a bit of freedom within the safety of the site, the kids would gather and play football or table tennis. The larger Eurocamp sites had teen clubs as well as kids clubs. More expensive than booking direct with the site, but worth it for the clubs Perfect for mixed ages as you have. Mine are grown up now but we enjoyed sites near Florence, Rome, Venice, Lisbon, and lots in France. Similar in Holland, Belgium and Germany

We booked a villa in France with a pool. All very relaxed. Everyone in eye shot when swimming, bbq etc. perfect! Not expensive either if you drive there.

In this country, Weymouth or Swanage. Abroad, Lanzarote, Tenerife or Majorca.

Camping holidays in France italy Spain Croatia for that mix of ages.
Lots of younger kids areas / activities and then also freedom and older kid activities.
Not the most glamorous but definitly easy and fun and as parents you can relax into it.
We often tagged a villa / city break onto the end of the camping holiday to get a slightly different vibe and spend a night in the city too.

I agree you can't beat Eurocamp. Seperate rooms, lots of on site activities for all ages, no horrible buffet. Some people say it's still "work" but we never did much cooking. Lunch out or snack by the pool. Alternating between eating out, takeaway or BBQ in the evening. Or something nice from a market. We always had lovely chilled evenings after a day out or by the pool. Showered, wine on the terrace watching the kids all play out together. Lots of Uno and Rummikub. The new mobile homes are quite swish now.

I'd ask the 12 year old. Or do they have to do little kid holidays for their whole childhood now?

Thank you for the genuine responses 😊